Two creative trades that can land Jerami Grant on the Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets trade with the Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons are one of a few teams with decent cap space to work with this offseason. Because of that, their options are more open than most teams. They seem to be in rebuild mode, but if the market for attracting stars comes up empty, they could look to start acquiring future picks.

As Corey Rausch detailed for Hoops Habit recently, the Pistons might be banking on the Rockets not being sustainable in a few years, making their future draft picks more valuable if they start to decline over time.

It’s certainly a risky move for the Pistons, but one they might see worth it if nothing better comes around. The trade would look like this.

In the scenario, it’s assumed Tony Snell opts into his player option going into the 2020-21 season. The remaining amount of Snell’s contract is $12.1 million, which the Rockets could then spread out to pay him out using the stretch provision.

Essentially, Houston could pay out Tony’s remaining year over the course of three seasons, paying $4 million per year against the cap for the next three seasons. Doing this would mean the Rockets would have enough salary to lure Grant with his estimated value, should he want to join James Harden and Russell Westbrook in Houston.

Plenty needs to fall perfectly into place, and other teams may need to make imperfect moves or gambles, but the Daryl Morey has pulled off some amazing things before.

While I wouldn’t bank on these exact deals happening, these transactions demonstrate just how creative the Houston Rockets are going to have to get if they want to make some major changes to help their chances this offseason.